Ecuador earthquake: Hopes of finding survivors fade as death toll nears 500

Rescuers in Ecuador were losing hope on Tuesday of finding more survivors from an earthquake that killed nearly 500 people and dealt a shattering blow to the South American OPEC country's already fragile economy.

Praying for miracles, distraught family members beseeched rescue teams to find missing loved ones as they used dogs, bare hands and excavators to hunt through debris of flattened homes, hotels and stores in the hardest-hit Pacific coastal region. The death toll stood at 480 on Tuesday afternoon but was expected to rise.

The 7.8 magnitude quake, which struck late on Saturday, also left 107 people missing, and injured more than 4,000, according to the latest government tallies. Supervising rescue work in the disaster zone, Ecuador's leftist president, Rafael Correa, said the quake inflicted $2 billion to $3 billion of damage to the oil-dependent economy and could knock 2 to 3 percentage points off growth.

"Let's not kid ourselves, it will be a long struggle. ... Reconstruction for years, billions (of dollars) in investment," said Correa, who appeared deeply moved. "In the short term, we're going to need tens of millions of dollars," Correa added from the quake-hit town of Tarqui, donning a mask, gloves and helmet.

Growth in Ecuador's small economy had already been forecast at near zero in 2016 because of plunging oil revenues. The quake, Ecuador's worst in decades, destroyed or damaged about 1,500 buildings, triggered mudslides and left some 20,500 people sleeping in shelters, according to the government.

SMELL OF DEATH
In isolated villages and towns, survivors struggled without water, power or transport, although people rendered homeless by the quake were flocking to shelters. "Before we were in the streets with my mom, who is 81," said Rosa Cagua, 60, as she and some 200 others sat in a big makeshift tent in Pedernales. "At least here they have mattresses and food." Rescuers continued searching on Tuesday but the unmistakable smell of death told them what they were likely to find.

"There are bodies crushed in the wreckage and from the smell it's obvious they are dead," said Army Captain Marco Borja in the small tourist village of Canoa, adding that rescuers on Tuesday brought out as many as eight bodies.

In 1979, a magnitude 7.7 quake in Ecuador killed at least 600 people and injured 20,000, according to the US Geological Survey. With a presidential election slated for 2017, the government's response was under close scrutiny. Security forces and relief workers appeared to mobilise quickly and government officials were fast to reach scenes of disaster, but many survivors in isolated areas complained they still lacked water, food and medicines.

The mayor of Muisne island, closest to the epicentre of the quake, said all inhabitants had been evacuated to temporary shelters on the nearby mainland. "We've lost everything we acquired with years of work. We feel completely abandoned," he told local radio. "We need the government to relocate us."

Nearly 400 rescue workers flew in from countries in Latin America, along with 83 specialists from Switzerland and Spain. The United States said it would dispatch a team of disaster experts, while Cuba was sending doctors.

US President Barack Obama called Correa on Tuesday "to convey the condolences of the American people for the loss of life caused by the earthquake," the White House said. To finance emergency efforts, some $600 million in credit from multilateral lenders was activated, Ecuador said.

Ecuador also signed off on Monday on a $2 billion credit line from the China Development Bank to finance public investment. Ecuador and China, the country's main financier since 2009, had been negotiating the credit before the quake.